


Morning Exploits

by winterseaspray



Category: Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Fluff, Food, Shipping, after-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterseaspray/pseuds/winterseaspray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alek's in the paper again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning Exploits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Araine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araine/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide!

The paper had greatly exaggerated what he had done, Alek thought as he looked at the picture of himself on the front page. And what a slow day it must have been to have him on the front page. Really, it had been nothing. He folded the paper up and began to eat his breakfast, which was going cold.

The notoriety of being in the paper had lost its glamour before he had even been there, but these days it was even less appealing. For someone who was working in industry of stealth, being in the paper was never a good thing and now the Society would scold him for it. If they got to him before Volger did.

And then there was the matter of Deryn. At least she would be coming home after a night of looking after Dr. Barlow’s latest creation, and she would probably have not read the paper already. He could hide it away somewhere and she would never find out.

Only he wasn’t sure that was something he could do. They had no secrets from one another and she would want to know what he had done with his day off.

He could just see it: “ _I went to the market to get some things we needed and oh, along the way, there was this little boy playing in the street who didn’t see a taxi cab coming up on him, so I pushed him out of the way and almost got killed in the process._ ” Deryn would not be impressed.

There was the sound of the door opening to their small flat and Deryn appeared, her blonde hair tousled, deep circles around her eyes. “Hello,” she said, smiling a little at him and crossing the room to kiss him lightly before slumping in a chair. “Dr. Barlow is mad,” she informed him, reaching for a piece of toast.

“Well, you know I have been calling all of it mad since the beginning,” Alek said, picking up another piece of toast and buttering it, before handing it over to her.

“She’s told me that we’re to be traveling soon,” Deryn said. “But she won’t tell me where.”

“We can hope it is somewhere we will both be useful,” Alek said, flexing his hand under the table. Darwinist creatures were all well and good, but he certainly missed being at a walker’s saunters. If they could go some place like Germany, or even Istanbul again, then he might get a chance to pilot something.

“Aye, and I’d like to get up in the air again, I’m afraid I’ve lost my head for heights,” she said.

“You could never lose your head for heights,” Alek said, shaking his head and shifting the butter towards Deryn, who took it before frowning at the paper.

“What’s this?” she asked, reaching for the paper, which Alek snatched away.

“It’s nothing,” he said, trying to put the paper behind his back.

“Was that your face on the front page?” Deryn asked, giving Alek an all too knowing look.

“No, just someone who looks like me.”

“Alek,” Deryn shifted on her feet. “I thought we had no secrets.”

“This isn’t a secret,” Alek said.

“Give me the paper then,” Deryn said.

“No,” Alek said. He didn’t want to get her annoyed with him so early in the morning already, but it seemed no matter which way he went he was going to get into trouble.

Deryn pounced on him, sitting down on his lap and trapping him there (not that he really minded her weight on his lap) and reached down, breathing on his neck softly in a way that made all the hair there stand on end. Then she grabbed the paper from his hands and grinned, sitting backwards, but not letting him up.

She frowned at the paper. “It is you!” Deryn said. Then she moved the paper and frowned deeply at Alek. “What were you doing that got you into the paper?” she asked seriously. She put the paper between their faces before Alek could respond with some sort of excuse as Deryn began to read.

A sound of annoyance left her throat and she put the paper down abruptly. “You _dummkopf_!” Deryn said, punching him in the shoulder (none too lightly either, Alek winced at the blow). “Jumping in front of a taxi like that. You could have had your stupid head run in.”

“But I didn’t,” Alek pointed out, rather lamely.

“Are you sure,” Deryn inspected his forehead. “Sometimes I just wonder if you’ve had your attic messed with a bit more then that blow we gave you.” She reached out and took his head, her fingers running through his hair, sending shivers down Alek’s spine. “Hm, no, I don’t see any damage. So you’re just a ninny.”

“Get stuffed,” Alek told her, but there was some amusement in his tone. “I saved a child, what did you do yesterday?”

“I think I stopped the second Great War all by myself,” Deryn said with a grin. “So we’re even on that count. But I didn’t end up in the paper.” She picked up the paper again and began to read in a drool imitation of Eddie Malone’s voice: “ _But if the brave prince hadn’t seen the boy_ , Oh dear Alek, we’re going to have to get a huge needle to pop your bloated head. I don’t think I have one.”

Alek reached over to the table, making sure to lightly brush his lips against her collar as he did so, just to prove he could be as distracting as she could, and grabbed the toast she had left there. Coming back up he looked at her innocently. “Go on, you know I love to hear all about my exploits.”

“ _The day might have_ —“ Alek stuffed the toast into her open mouth, causing Deryn to choke and laugh at the same time. She began to chew as she put the paper down, giving him an annoyed look.

Alek didn’t wait; he leant up and kissed her.

“See, I can save more then a little boy on the street,” he said when he pulled away.

The paper, and the article, got forgotten after that. Alek should have thought of other ways to keep Deryn from getting too angry with him, as they seemed to be much more effective.


End file.
